Now, since we are God’s coworkers, we beg you not to take God’s marvelous grace for granted, allowing it to have no effect on your lives.
2 Corinthians 6:1 TPT
May I remind you first that it is a choice with you whether the grace God that you have received would be in vain or not. God gives us this gift, that we may give Him our obedience; though not as in a trade kind of, but that this grace will enable us to be obedient to Him.
If I am given a bag full of treasures, and I am poor, but I will not open it. What benefit to me is a locked-up wealth? Or I have seed and fields where it might be sown, yet I will not sow it. Of what avail to me is the seed, or the soil, the sun, or the rain? If I am going on a journey through an unknown country, and there is a guidebook in my hand, yet I never open it, but go wandering on. That guidebook is as utterly in vain to me as if it were in the depths of the ocean.
The grace of God can also be likened to the bag of treasure which must be opened in order to benefit from its content. Likewise, it may also be likened to the guidebook, which must be opened so that correct instruction for the journey might be accessed.
Therefore, it is important we realise that we can receive the grace of God in vain when we do not believe it, we despise it or neglect it. We must not only accept the teaching of God’s word but must ensure that it produces adequate results.